Disney, Altice USA Reach Agreement in Principle

Altice USA said it has reached an agreement in principle with The Walt Disney Co. regarding carrage of its networks in the New York metro market, and have extended their existing carriage contract as they work to hammer out the terms of the new deal.

In a brief joint statement, the two companies said simply they had "reached an agreement in principle and have extended the deadline accordingly to try [to] finalize the terms."

Altice's Optimum customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were expected to go dark at 5 p.m. Sunday (Oct.1) if a deal wasn't reached. The fact the parties avoided a black out and managed to reach at least a tentative deal comes as a surprise as most analysts had expected at least a brief impasse. The deal means New York Yankees fans in the area won't miss the American League Wild Card game scheduled for Oct. 3 on ESPN.

Terms of the new agreement were not disclosed. Altice did not say how long the deal would be extended as it worked on terms.